Our week...

The last week has had many good, even great, moments and some very difficult ones. The one most often on my mind is the moment we received an email from our teammate Christie, who is in the states on furlough, to say that her Grandparents, Great Aunt, and Great Uncle were all killed in a car accident. Our first thoughts, along with all of the normal feelings of sadness, were "please no, not this, not for her and her family right now..." It's difficult... We want to be there for her and we can't be right now. They've dealt with so much heartache and loss in the last year, after the passing of Christie's Father, that I just can't imagine how this feels when added to that. So, we've just been writing her and praying a lot. It's all we know to do. Please pray for them, too, as the memorial service for her Grandparents is today.

One of our teens was really sad this week after having broken up with her boyfriend and I was glad I could be there for her, but struggled at times to find the right words in Czech to encourage and comfort her. She's so sweet and patient, though, and we got through it and hopefully I can continue to help her through this difficult time.

We had a great Moms and Kids class again this week and I am thankful for each of the Moms who came and got out in this terrible weather to spend a couple of hours with us. The kids are so full of joy and laughter and it makes for a great part of my week. Jakub loves playing with them all and does so well throughout the program. One of our teens has volunteered to come and be his "Mom" while I lead the class this time and it's so sweet to see their relationship grow. We'll be celebrating Christmas together this week in class and I look forward to the opportunity to share what Christmas really means to me and I'll be reading a children's book on the birth of Jesus. Please pray this is received well among the Moms.

We put our Christmas tree up and Jakub has been really good about admiring it from afar. Hopefully he'll keep that up. :)

Jakub got another tooth yesterday and did so well with it over the last week. You wouldn't even know it was coming as he slept, ate, and drank well. It's an incisor, and his two front teeth seem to be soon to follow. Hopefully he won't look like he has fangs. :) Sadly, though, there seems to be a virus going around our kids here and Jakub started getting sick today before church. He was playing well, but then took an unusually long morning nap, laid back in his high chair through lunch, and then started having a fever before taking another long nap. Needless to say we didn't get to make it to church with Josh today. His fever got up to 102.4F, but then broke and was down to 100F at bedtime. He's sleeping well tonight, so here's praying that he rests and heals well and has a better day tomorrow. We're supposed to get his one year shots this week, but I guess we'll be holding off on those as he has to be illness and fever free for 2 weeks before they'll give them to him. I hate seeing him sick, and thankfully I don't have to do it very often- it breaks my heart!

Well, here are some pictures from the last week or so. Enjoy! Thanks for your prayers!

Tickle fest with Daddy






Bowling with the teens






Just one of the several days it has snowed here over the past couple of weeks. Much of it has melted now, as it reached 32 yesterday, but I think we're due for more tomorrow and this week.






Making a break for Daddy's coffee. He's big into getting on his tip toes and crawling up onto anything he can manage. He crawled onto me, and then up me onto the couch yesterday. He's creative... and he doesn't have a lot of fear of anything... I'm thinking this is going to make for a bad combination later as he learns to walk and get around even better.







Playing with a great, new ball that was given to him by a friend as a birthday gift. It changes colors as you bounce and play with it. He loves it.







I actually had the camera out already and caught him standing alone for the first time. It was awesome and he was so proud of himself! He's increasingly brave about it and has done it several times since then. No steps alone yet.







He loves to throw things and has a pretty cute expression while doing so.







I hear they had a good discussion at worship time today about things you can't or don't want to live without. This boy is definitely high on my list. It's hard enough to think of him sleeping in there with a fever right now, and I miss him when he's sleeping, so I can't imagine life without him now that he's here. I know God is with us through all things, and I won't dwell on something that isn't necessary now, but I just can't imagine... I know they had some visitors today and a great and honest discussion around this topic. Josh filled me in and I was sorry to have missed it. I did get to spend some prayer time with Jakub, though, and that was very special, too. What a great and overwhelming task to have a child enter the age where he can really start to learn from you about your faith, about prayer, about God and who He is. Hopefully we'll teach Jakub well to follow God and love Him as he grows up.


Ok, I'm tired and starting to ramble. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that your coming week is filled with blessings!